Afraid to lose
by artsygeek9796
Summary: When Zane recovers and sets off to build a new deck, Syrus can't help but worry about him, to the point that it effects his dueling.
1. Chapter 1

_My brother was one of the greatest dualists at Duel Academy, highly respected by teachers and peers alike. When he entered the Pro Leagues, my brother became famous until he dualed Aster Phoenix. His career went downhill after that. _

_He fell into darkness, becoming heartless and cruel when he began dueling underground. Even when I dueled against him, I was just another opponent in his eyes and had me use shock collars. I lost, but in a way, I also won and a change in him was set in motion._

_Just when the old Zane was starting to come back, his heart was failing. And after battling against Yubel in the most epic dual I've ever seen, he died. I lost my brother, this time it was permanently. _

_But then a miracle occurred when Zane was found alive on the shore of the island. He was still weakened by his heart condition, but it didn't matter. My brother was back. Problem is, after getting him back, I became afraid of losing him._

•••

"Zane!" Syrus woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. _It's just a dream, Zane is okay_, he would recite in his head. But that thought was never enough to assure him.

Usually after having a nightmare involving his brother, he would sneak over to the infirmary where Zane was staying to check on him. He was no longer there though. A few days ago, he was deemed healthy enough to leave the island and set out to build a new deck after giving his old one to Syrus.

A knock on the door startled Syrus. He walked over to the door and opened it to find Atticus with a concerned look on his face.

"Sy, are you alright? I heard you shouting."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for waking you."

"Don't worry about it," Atticus smirked, ruffling the little blue duelist's hair, "if you ever need anything, my door's open." Syrus smiled and nodded shyly, letting the door close between them. _I can't have my friends worry over me because of some stupid bad dreams._

Making his way to the bed, he looked at the the alarm clock on his nightstand. 12:30 am. _Sheesh, is it really that late?_ But Syrus couldn't go back to sleep. He reached for his deck, the one that combined Zane's Cyberdark deck with his own cards.


	2. Chapter 2

_"You're leaving?" I asked when I found my brother packing his suitcase. Was he really gonna leave the island without saying anything?_

_"I need to build a new deck if I'm going to get back on top," Zane answered and zipped up the luggage. _

_"B-but what about your heart?" _

_"Don't worry, I won't overwork it." He said as he got up and rustled my hair, "I'll be fine."_

_"When are you coming back?"_

_"Syrus, I'm not returning to Duel Academy. Are you forgetting that I graduated a year ago?" Zane said with a smirk, "study hard."_

_"I will," I told him. And just like that, he left._

•••

Jaden pulled himself up onto a tree branch overlooking the Obelisk blue dorms.

"Man, how did Chumely make it look so easy back then?" he mumbled when he spotted Syrus's window. The little blue dualist was sprawled over the bed, his cards scattered around him. _He's still asleep?_ The brunette leaped from the branch and landed on the window ledge. He slid the window and made his way to Syrus.

"Sy, wake up," Jaden said as he shook the sleeping form.

"...huh, Jaden?" The blue-haired boy moaned as he rubbed his eyes, "what's up?"

"You didn't come by the mess hall for breakfast, so I came to see what's up. Or in this case, what's not up."

"What time is it?" Syrus was so out of it he didn't even acknowledge his friend's joke.

"It's almost 8:00. Are you okay? You never overslept before."

"Yeah, um, I'll be ready in a minute."

"Okay, but hurry up or you'll miss all of the scrambled eggs," Jaden said as he headed to the window.

"You know, you can use the door. It's not like before when we couldn't set foot in the blue dorms."

"What can I say, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic." He shrugged, smiling.

Syrus chuckled and shook his head as the brunette climbed away.

•••

Jaden jumped down, landing on his feet in front of Hassleberry, Atticus, Chazz, and Alexis.

"You know, you could've used the door," Alexis told him.

"Well, what's he doing up there?" Chazz asked curtly.

"I had to wake him up."

"He was still asleep?" Alexis eyes widened.

"I'm worried about him, Syrus has been...different since Zane left," Atticus voiced his concern. He knew Syrus was feeling down about his brother's departure, however he left out how Syrus woke up from a nightmare.

"He overslept, everyone does that now and then," Chazz said, rolling his eyes, "It doesn't means there's something wrong."

"Still, we'll keep an eye on him," Jaden assured Atticus.

"Speaking of whom, there's our soldier right now," said Hasselberry, pointing to a distant blue-haired duelist running towards them.

"It's about time," Chazz mumbled, which received a smack in the arm from Alexis.

"Sorry...I'm late..." he said out of breath.

"You okay?" Atticus asked, only to be interrupted by a certain duelist in black.

"Whatever, let's just go before there's no more coffee," Chazz says as they head to the school cafeteria.

•••

_"You want me to look out for Syrus?" I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Zane was at my door in the middle of the night and entrusting me with watching over his little brother while he's gone._

_"Yes," he said with his usual serious look on his face as he handed me a card with his number on it. _

_"But why me? Why not Jaden or Alexis?" After all, Syrus was much closer to Jaden and my sister was the one who knew how to handle these things seriously when they had to, not me._

_"You're my best friend, so I can trust that if there's something wrong with Syrus, you'll tell me." _

_"Don't worry, I got your back."_

_"Thank you. So long, Atticus." He turned and walked away. I wasn't sure if I was the right man for the job, but I had to try. Zane had looked after Alexis when I was controlled by the shadows. He's the greatest friend a guy could have. From one brother to another, you can count on me._


	3. Chapter 3

"Now then, can anybody tell me how many life points is lost when this card is used to summon a level 8 monster?" Dr. Crowler asked his students, pointing to the screen. Every dualist in the pier looked at each other, unsure of what was the answer, which angered the dualing professor.

"Uh oh, looks like someone's gonna become Crowler's victim," Chazz said in a low voice to Alexis.

"Quiet or it'll be us!" she hissed.

"So, no one knows the answer?" Crowler asked with gritted teeth.

A yawn echoed throughout the classroom.

"Who was that?!"

Chazz and Alexis looked back to see Syrus resting his head on his hands, eyes drooping closed.

"Syrus, you gotta stay awake," Alexis cried in a hushed tone.

"Syrus Trusdale!"

He sat up abruptly once he heard Crowler's voice calling his name.

"Y-yes, Dr. Crowler?"

"Is my lesson boring you?" The blonde professor asked sarcastically.

"N-no, sir."

"Then can you tell the class what the answer is?"

"Uhh...1500?"

"Correct," Crowler said, disappointed that he had answered it right.

Syrus sunk back in his chair in relief.

"Now onto using spell cards during your opponent's turn..."

•••

"You sure were lucky, Sy," Chazz said as they walked out of Crowler's class.

"Yeah," the blue dualist said with a yawn.

"Syrus, you seem tired. Did you not sleep well last night?" Alexis asked.

"A little, I guess."

They reached the dual arena where Jaden was about to go up against a Ra yellow student with a water type deck.

"Why even bother? We already know who's going to win this thing," Chazz mumbled as he sat back in his seat.

"There's always a chance this match might be a close call," Atticus said optimistically.

"Yeah," Syrus agreed from the row behind them. _After all, Zane was the first to beat Jaden in a dual._ The thought of his brother saddened him a bit. _How come I haven't heard from him?_ I haven't read about him in the papers, which could mean he hasn't been in any big league dual.

"Syrus?" He returned from his thoughts when he heard Alexis.

"Yeah?"

"The match is about to start."

"Oh right."

Jaden started off with two face downs and his elemental hero flamed wingman in defense mode.

"Wow, on his first turn?" Hasselberry commented confused.

"He never disappoints his fans," Atticus joked laughing.

Jaden's opponent played a spell card that destroyed his monster.

"Ooh, that's a lot of life points," Alexis winced when Jaden lost 2000 of them.

Syrus watched intensely. _I haven't seen a move like that since..._

•••

_I watched my brother duel against one of the top dualists in the country on the screen._

_"I play my face down," Zane said, revealing his trap card, "so say goodbye to your pathetic monster."_

_"It can't be!" his opponent cried. Zane gave a low chuckle._

_"Oh yes, and with my dragon's special ability, you lose 2000 life points, which is exactly what you have."_

_"Wait, what?!"_

_"This match is over!" Zane shouted as his dragon striked down on the dualist. The dualist fainted, unable to get up. But Zane just walked away._

_"Another brutal attack by Zane Truesdale!"_

•••

"And that's game," Jaden stated. Syrus snapped awake.

"Man, what a dual!"

"If it was me against Jaden, it would've lasted longer," Chazz said arrogantly.

"Sure, whatever you say..."

"Never have I seen a battle like that. Right soldier?" Hasselberry asked Syrus.

Syrus nodded, hiding the fact that he had missed the whole dual. _Gee, Syrus. Daydreaming during your best friend's dual?_

The gang circled around Jaden, who simply smiled at his victory.

"Sy?" He asked.

Syrus was still sitting in the stands when he looked to where his friends were.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

"Aren't you usually the first one to congratulate the slacker?"

"Sorry, I was...a little distracted."

"Syrus do you want to return to your dorm?"

"What do you mean?" He asked innocently.

"You're obviously tired. I can walk you back to your room if you want," Atticus spoke softly.

"What's a couple more hours? I'm okay, really. If I start to fall asleep then I'll head back early, deal?"

His friends looked at each other, thinking it seemed like a logical plan, and agreed to let him stay.

They headed to the Slifer red dorms with a pack of root beer, talking about who they were dualing next, upcoming exams, and plans after graduation.

"So what are you going to do after graduation, Jaden?"

"Not sure yet. What about you, Sy?"

"My brother is planning a dueling tag team, and wants me to join."

"Seriously?! That's awesome, Sy!" Atticus said.

"It's no surprise, the soldier is a great dualist."

"I-I'm not that good"

"What are you talking about? You won, like, 10 duals in the past month."

"Well I can never be as good as Zane was with this deck..."

"Yes you can," Jaden pressed, "and to prove it you're going to duel me."

"Oh no you don't! You're dueling against me!" Chazz proclaimed.

"When are you going to learn to accept it, soldier? You can't beat Jaden."

"Yeah, besides I haven't dueled against Sy's new deck yet."

"Guys?" Alexis called them out. She pointed to Syrus, who was curled up and snoozing on Jaden's bunk.

"Guess I better bring him back," Atticus sighed, getting up.

"Nah, don't wake him. Let him sleep here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it'll be like old times."

"Sure, just don't get to class late like you guys used to," Alexis said, half-joking. They all said good-bye to Jaden and headed back to the dorms.

Jaden turned to the sleeping blue dualist.

_After fusing with Yubel, I have gotten stronger than I was when we both enrolled. Zane was right, I would become the top dualist. But Syrus isn't far behind. I'm not sure why Zane came to see me that day._

•••

_"Zane, what are you doing here this late?" I asked, still groggy from sleep. It was so dark out, I could barely see him in his black trench coat._

_"Jaden, I need you to be there for Syrus whenever he feels down. He's going to need that once I leave."_

_"You're going somewhere?"_

_"Yes, so while I'm gone, remind him that he's a good dualist, that he makes me proud. Can you do this for me?"_

_"Sure, Zane," I yawned, my eyes barely open, "but why are you so worried?" He was gone before he could answer me._


End file.
